A retired Donegal detective insisted at the Morris tribunal that alleged informant Ms Adrienne McGlinchey was never a member of the IRA, but refused to identify his "IRA sources."
Mr James Leheny, a former detective sergeant who served in Buncrana and Letterkenny in the 1990s, yesterday gave evidence to the tribunal for the fourth day, facing cross-examination by suspended Supt Kevin Lennon, who is representing himself before the tribunal.
Mr Leheny told the tribunal that "trusted members of the IRA" had told him Ms McGlinchey had no involvement with them. But Supt Lennon put it to the retired detective that he had no IRA informants at the time.
"I have my sources and I'm keeping them to myself," Mr Leheny said.
In the current module, the tribunal is examining allegations by Ms Adrienne McGlinchey that, together with Det Noel McMahon and Supt Kevin Lennon, she mixed explosives that were later used in bogus finds of terrorist arms. Both men have denied those claims, and Ms McGlinchey denies she was an informer.
Supt Lennon asked if it was "significant" that Mr Leheny did not send in intelligence bulletins on the discussions he had with his sources.
The former Donegal detective said he "never committed Ms McGlinchey's name to writing" as it was his opinion that she was not a member of the Provisional IRA.
Mr Leheny said he had not instructed that a search be carried out near the Oatfield sweet factory in Letterkenny on June 4th, 1994. He said he had not found out about an "alleged find" in the area until several days later.
The two men also clashed over their recollection of rostering and overtime allocations in Donegal after Supt Lennon was assigned to Buncrana.
Mr Leheny has denied that he attempted to undermine Supt Lennon's authority by questioning a new roster.
The retired garda told Supt Lennon that he was not aware of any IRA informants that the superintendent handled apart from Ms Adrienne McGlinchey. "You were an office man. You did very little outdoor work," he said.
However, the superintendent disagreed with this. "I was on many operations on the ground in relation to Provisional IRA activities," he said.
Supt McLaughlin identified Ms McGlinchey as "a grade A informer" in closed session, Supt Lennon told the tribunal.
"Supt McLaughlin never discussed Adrienne McGlinchey with me," Mr Leheny replied.
Ms McGlinchey was never a member of the IRA in his opinion, he added.